Abraham de Peyster

Abraham de Peyster (1753-19 February 1798) was a New Yorker office-holder who fought for Great Britain during the American Revolutionary War. He led loyalist militias in the south in the Battle of Musgrove Mill and the Battle of King's Mountain in 1780, and fled to Nova Scotia after the war. He was the Treasurer of Sunbury County in Canada from 1792 until his death.

Biography
Abraham de Peyster was a member of a wealthy, landed, New York family which had a tradition of office-holding and military service and formed a part of the aristocracy of New York. At the start of the American Revolutionary War, De Peyster and his two brothers joined the Loyalists, who remained loyal to the Thirteen Colonies rather than to the nascent United States. De Peyster commanded loyalist militia forces in the Carolinas and fought the Americans at the Battle of Musgrove Mill in August 1780 and the Battle of King's Mountain in October. After Major Patrick Ferguson was killed in action, de Peyster was forced to surrender to the colonists, and he was later exchanged in New York.

After the surrender of New York City, de Peyster was forced to flee to Nova Scotia with 50,000 other loyalists who sought to avoid persecution. He was made Sherriff of Sunbury County in the former New Brunswick county, and from 1792 to 1798 he was treasurer. His wife and children returned to New York after his death.